birthday surprises

I received 2 surprise birthday celebrations in the last few days.

The Rex contingent I went to Johannesburg with - Chris the big brother, Leon the big bear and John the sweet talker - decided to reward ourselves for the hard work we put in for the week by having a nice dinner on our last night in the very nice Shumba Valley Lodge we stayed in.

Then when the time came for us to order desserts, a waiter appeared out of nowhere with a birthday cake and suddenly all the guys sprang into song at the top of their voices. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." I was pleasantly surprised. To think I was even contemplating skipping dinner cos I was exhausted from working til late for consecutive days. I was glad I made the effort to stay awake for our last dinner in South Africa. I even broke my self-imposed no-alcohol-during-entire-work-trip rule to have a few drinks with the boys to celebrate the occasion although it was several days in advance of the actual day. I really appreciate their thoughts and effort.

When I got back to Sydney on the 5th, I was picked up at the airport and zipped off to some nice restaurant for dinner by the beach and another surprise birthday cake complete with a bouquet of flowers at the stroke of midnight. I was quite blown away although I may have been too tired from the long haul flight to express my delight at the surprise.

All the emails, comments, IM messages and smses I received from all over the world show that there are so many who remember, who care. I have not checked my letterbox but I know there are collection slips for me to collect my birthday pressies from the post office. How many and what are they and who they are from, I do not know, yet. But I do know tudi's parcel will be late in arriving. I can't wait to unwrap and discover all these little surprises.

Guys, here's a great big thank you for all the wishes. Even a simple message means the world to me, especially when I'm away from all those I love and who love me. I miss all of you so so so much.